Larry Jeff McMurtry (b. June 3, 1936) is an American novelist, essayist,
bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either
the old West or in contemporary Texas. He is known for his 1975 novel Terms
of Endearment, his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove,
a historical saga that follows ex-Texas Rangers as they drive their
cattle from the Rio Grande to a new home in the frontier of Montana, and
for co-writing the adapted screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. Lonesome
Dove was adapted into a television miniseries and both the films of Terms
of Endearment and Brokeback Mountain won Academy Awards (Click
here for full Wikipedia article)

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A man that ain't willin' to cheat for a poke don't want it bad enough.

Backward is just not a natural direction for Americans to look -
historical ignorance remains a national characteristic.

I don't see how being married could be any worse than listening to you
talk for twenty years, but that still ain't much of a recommendation for
it.

I think its a sickness to grieve too much for those who never cared a
fig for you.

If we know anything about man, it's that he's not pacific. The
temptation to butcher anyone considered undesirable seems to be a common
temptation, not always resisted.

If you only come face to face with your own mistakes once or twice in
your life it's bound to be extra painful. I face mine every day- that
way they ain't usually much worse than a dry shave.

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.

If you want one thing too much it's likely to be a disappointment. The
healthy way is to learn to like the everyday things, like soft beds and
buttermilk—and feisty gentlemen.

Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves.

It's a fine world, though rich in hardships at times.

Live through it. That's all we can do.

No illusion is more crucial than the illusion that great success and
huge money buy you immunity from the common ills of mankind, such as
cars that won't start.

Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas without
eating a chicken fried steak.

Part of the trick of being happy is a refusal to allow oneself to become
too nostalgic for the heady triumphs of one's youth.

Self-parody is the first portent of age.

The earth is mostly just a boneyard. But pretty in the sunlight...

The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters

The older the violin, the sweeter the music.

The reason men are so awful is because some woman has spoiled them.

There isn't a thought in my head I care to be alone with for more than
five minutes.